Somerville Scientific Racism

Thesis: Homosexuality and race have related questions according to Ellis and how they are related to each other in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are an important part of this article. It goes into detail about how there are relations between homosexuality and race. There are different scientists and their points that are brought in to help the argument be stronger.

The article talks about the gender and how George Chauncey noted a gradual change in records on sexual history. An interesting point made in the article was that the time sexuality came around about homosexuality there was also the difference of ‘black’ and ‘white’ coming about in America. Sexology came about because of the differences people noticed in others. Ellis wrote a book about sexuality that raised interest in the United States because it caused controversy. The book was banned in England because of its content. Freud’s views on sexuality later became known to the population as he disproved homosexuals as a different group. The author of the article then went into discussion about race. He defined race as groups based on different color, class, religion, or geography. Polygeny and monogeny were two words described for different race groups. Another interesting point in the article was about how African Americans and white women were considered equal to white male children. Racial differences were mainly linked to gender. Darwinism believed that people evolved through a process of natural selection.

After reading this article it was interesting to see how homosexuality and race are related. Race should not define a person and neither should homosexuality. People should be known because of who they are as a person and not because of what they look like. It may be harder to accept someone who is homosexual because they don’t have the same views as you, but you shouldn’t judge them before you get the know them. They could be a really good friend in the long run and it would be wrong to judge them before you get to know them. Race may not allow a person to get a job and that kind of discrimination should not be allowed. As said above, people should be looked at because of who they are and not because of what they look like on the outside.

1) Is there really any way to tell how race came about?

2) Are there other scientists who believe that race and homosexuality are not related?